wall panel and wall structure

ABSTRACT

A lightweight concrete panel for use as an outer layer of a dwelling wall, said panel made of concrete mix of cement, sand, lightweight concrete aggregate such as polystyrene beads, superplasticiser and water, said concrete mix having a nominal density in the range of 500 to 1500 kg/m 3 . The panel preferably has a backing sheet of polystyrene affixed thereto. The panel is used as in a cladding and insulating veneer arrangement for a load bearing subwall formed from studs or masonry. The panels are loose fixed in vertical alignment in a horizontally and vertically extending stack of panels and retained in position by retaining clips without any bonding jointing material between the panels. A method of forming such a cladding and insulating arrangement is also disclosed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a lightweight panel for use as an outer layer of a dwelling wall and a dwelling wall constructed using such lightweight panels.

BACKGROUND

Many conventional dwellings have brick veneer walls that typically comprise a structural frame having an outer layer of bricks and an inner layer of plasterboard liner. In recent years such walls have been constructed with insulation foil disposed therein. The use of the insulation foil increases the thermal resistance of the dwelling wall and results in a far more energy efficient home. Whilst many home builders and the general public at large are becoming more aware of the advantages of energy efficient homes, their cost of construction are still quite considerable, particularly due to the labour and materials handling required.

The brick veneer is a form of cladding which covers the load bearing wall and generally provides an aesthetically pleasing exterior finish. Because of thermal expansion and contraction (and indeed even expansion of bricks with age) about every 50 feet (15 meters) in a brick veneer wall it is necessary to provide a control joint. This is a vertical gap in the bricks up to 15 mm in width which is filled with a compressible sealing material. Between the bricks themselves is a layer of mortar which bonds to the bricks and thus binds all the bricks together. The cost of conventionally laid bricks is relatively high because of the need for skilled (and therefore highly paid) bricklayers and the need for mortar with its inherent delays involved in mixing, laying and subsequent clean up.

The genesis of the present invention is a desire to provide a lightweight panel that can be used in the construction of a dwelling wall that has a thermal resistance greater than that of a brick veneer wall, and is relatively simple to construct.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

According to a first aspect the present invention there is disclosed a cladding and insulating veneer arrangement fixed to a load bearing subwall, said arrangement comprising a vertically and horizontally extending stack of substantially vertically aligned panels which are loose fixed without bonding jointing material between the panels, and retaining clips extending between said panels and the subwall.

According to a second aspect the present invention there is disclosed a method of erecting a cladding and insulating veneer arrangement for a load bearing subwall, said method comprising the steps of:

(i) positioning a plurality of substantially vertically aligned panels in edge abutment to form a row,

(ii) loose fixing said panels without bonding jointing material between the panels,

(iii) utilizing retaining clips extending between said panels and said subwall to retain said panels in said row, and

(iv) repeating step (i) for a vertically adjacent row.

According to a third aspect the present invention there is disclosed a lightweight panel for use in the abovementioned cladding and insulating arrangement, said panel being formed substantially from concrete which comprises cement, sand, lightweight aggregate, superplasticiser and water; having a density in the range of 500-1500 kg/m³; and having an inter-engagement means to enable said panel to be loose fixed with a plurality of like panels in a vertically and horizontally extending stack of said panels, and said inter-engagement means being shaped to permit engagement with a retaining clip which permits said stack of panels to be retained adjacent a subwall from which said retaining clip extends.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective cut-away corner view of a first embodiment of a dwelling wall in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the dwelling wall shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a standard lightweight concrete panel used in the construction of the dwelling wall shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 4 a and 4 b depict perspective views of corner lightweight concrete panels used in the construction of the dwelling wall shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a panel clip used in the construction of the dwelling wall shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a wall in accordance with a second embodiment, and

FIG. 7 is a horizontal cross-sectional view through adjoining panels of a third embodiment.

MODE OF CARRYING OUT INVENTION

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate, in a simplified schematic fashion, the construction of a dwelling wall 1 having a structural frame comprising of wooden studs 2 and noggings 3. In this embodiment the studs 2 and noggings 3 are preferably 100 mm×50 mm (4×2 inches) pine, but in other embodiments may be of different size, timber or material.

The inner layer of dwelling wall 1 comprises of conventional plasterboard liner 4, which is typically about 13 mm thick, attached to the structural frame of studs 2 and noggings 3.

The outer layer of dwelling wall 1 comprises of a plurality of lightweight concrete panels 5 a, 5 b, 5 c, 5 d and 5 e. Each standard panel 5 a and corner panel 5 b is about 600 mm×300 mm×50 mm, whilst smaller corner panel 5 c is about 300 mm×300 mm×50 mm, however this size is not critical. What is of substantial economic importance is that each panel is of a size equivalent in wall surface area to many bricks and can be much more quickly and conventionally lifted, handled and placed in position than the many bricks of equivalent wall surface area.

All panels 5 a-c have a tongue 6 a along their upper horizontal extent and a groove 7 a extending along their lower horizontal extent, for horizontal stacked engagement in tongue and groove relationship with other like panels 5 a-c. The standard panels 5 a also have a tongue 6 b and groove 7 b disposed oppositely to each other along their vertical edges, for vertical abutment in tongue and groove relationship with other like panels 5 a-c.

The corner panels 5 b and 5 c vary on the vertical edges, in that the groove 7 b is replaced by a flat face 7 c. It should be noted that in FIGS. 4 a and 4 b the corner panels shown are for starting at left and travelling right, however, corner panels starting at right and travelling left 5 d and 5 e, vary from panel 5 a by replacing the tongue 6 b by a flat face.

Panel clips 8 secured to studs 2 at 450-600 mm spacing by nail or screw fasteners, are used to secure panels 5 a-c to the structural frame. Each panel clip 8 has a back portion 9 adapted to sit flush against the stud 2 to which it is secured. The ledge portion 10 which projects from back portion 9, is adapted to engage with adjacent lightweight panels 5 a-c at the junction of their substantially horizontal respective tongue 6 a and groove 7 a.

In this way the panels are able to be stacked horizontally in a row and vertically with one row above another. As each panel is placed in position it is kept in place by means of one of the clips 8 until the next row of panels is positioned above the previous row. In this way no skilled labour such as a bricklayer is required. Furthermore, the clips 8 are hidden from view and thus provide a concealed temporary fixing.

Furthermore, the inter-engagement of the tongues 6 and grooves 7 provides an overlap between adjacent panels 5 which is sufficient to seal against the ingress of wind and/or moisture. Since the panels 5 are loose fitted in the stack the panels 5 can move relative to each other and the clips 8 to accommodate thermal expansion and contraction. This is to be contrasted with conventional brick veneer construction where a bonding jointing compound such as mortar actually binds each brick to its adjacent bricks. It follows that because of this loose fitting of the panels 5 no control joints are required.

Concertina (or zig-zag) foil batts 11 are preferably disposed within the structural frame between the inner layer of plasterboard liner 4 and outer layer lightweight concrete panels 5 a-e. One suitable type of batt 11 is the commercially available RENFOIL aluminium concertina batt.

Also a second layer of foil sheet 12, as shown in FIG. 2, but omitted for purposes of clarity from FIG. 1, is preferably attached to the studs 2 of the structural frame, and also preferably dished a minimum of 25 mm. A suitable type of foil sheet 12 is the commercially available RENFOIL aluminium foil sheet.

The lower portion of wall 1 has an apron 14 which extends downwardly from a 100 mm×75 mm hardwood plate 15. The apron 14 does not extend to the ground line. A mesh 17, preferably of stainless steel covers the gap between apron 14 and the ground, and is affixed to a pine fixing plate 18. A flashing 16 is placed between the bottom row of panels 5 and the plate 15.

The lightweight panels 5 a-c are manufactured by moulding and in this embodiment are preferably moulded to a thickness of about 50 mm. Once the panels are moulded, if desired they each can have a polystyrene sheet 13 of about 8-12 mm adhered to their back. However, this is not essential and in many circumstances undesirable since the panels with the polystyrene sheet 13 are much less robust and are more difficult to handle than the panels 5 without the polystyrene sheet 13. The panels are then cured in racks. The resulting thickness of the panels in this embodiment is about 60 mm. In an alternative embodiment, the polystyrene sheet 13 may be affixed to the panel during moulding/casting.

The concrete mix used to make the panels 5 a-c is extremely lightweight. Generally speaking, “lightweight” is typically regarded as low-density concrete of less than 2100 kg/m³ using lightweight aggregate (for example scoria) or (polystyrene beads) which are preferably uncoated with any chemicals.

In the present invention the concrete mix used to make the panels has a density substantially less than 2100 kg/m³ and preferably in the range of 500-1500 kg/m³. More preferably the density of the concrete mix is in the range 700-1200 kg/m³. A density of 1100 kg/m³ is particularly preferred. The concrete mix comprises cement, sand, lightweight concrete aggregate, a high range superplasticiser and water.

Examples of suitable mixes are shown in the table below. Nominal Density Materials 1200 kg/m³ 800 kg/m³ 700 kg/m³ Type GP Cement 40 kg 40 kg 40 kg Fine sand 55 kg 24 kg 20 kg Polystyrene beads 70 litres 110 litres 120 litres Superplasticiser 295 ml 295 ml 295 ml Water 13.0 litres 13.0 litres 13.0 litres

Whilst in the abovementioned examples the cement used is General Purpose Cement (Type GP), other types of cement such as High Early Strength Cement (Type HE), or blended cements including slag or fly ash blends may be used.

In the abovementioned examples, the sand weights are measured as “saturated, surface dry”.

In the abovementioned examples the preferred proportion of superplasticiser is 0.8% of cement by weight, but may vary from 0.5% to 1.5%. The preferred proportion of 0.8% is based on using the commercially available Sika ViscoCrete®-5 superplasticiser. In other embodiments other brands of superplasticiser may be used. Carbosylic ether polymer is also a suitable superplasticiser.

In the abovementioned examples water quantity is designed to achieve a water/cement ratio in the range of 0.30-0.35 or 0.3-0.4 by weight of cement. This low water/cement ratio is used to optimise concrete strengths and to suit compaction of the concrete.

One advantage of constructing a dwelling wall utilising lightweight concrete panels as described above, is that the wall will have a thermal resistance at least twice that of a conventional brick veneer wall incorporating foil insulation, thereby making the dwelling more energy efficient. A further advantage of the dwelling wall utilising such lightweight panels is that its weight/mass is considerably less than a brick veneer wall and may be constructed faster and with less skilled labour than a brick veneer wall, thereby reducing the overall cost for constructing the dwelling.

A further advantage is that the concrete panels as described above have suitable aesthetic appeal and look somewhat like a sandstone finish. This is achieved by placing sand in the bottom of the mould (not illustrated) in which the panels 5 are cast. This bottom surface becomes the front face of the panel and the sand bonds with the concrete as the concrete sets. The panels thus formed also have a high impact resistance and good moisture resistance.

Turning now to FIG. 6, in a second embodiment of a wall 100 the panels 5 are substantially as before but the load bearing subwall which is to be cladded and insulated is a brick or masonry wall 102. No air gap or other insulation such as aluminium foil is provided between the subwall 102 and the panels 5. Each panel is loose stacked in a horizontally extending row 110 with adjacent rows located one above the other. Each panel 5 is positioned in its intended position and temporarily held in place by means of a clip 108 (only one of which is illustrated in FIG. 7).

The clip 108 has a hook shaped tip which mates with the horizontally extending groove 6 a of the panel 5. The vertical base of the clip 108 is secured to the subwall 102 in any convenient fashion using power nails, adhesives, or the like.

It is not essential that the panels 5 be provided with a tongue and groove jointing arrangement. Instead the panels 5 can be provided with a groove 107 that extends entirely around the edge of the panel. As seen in FIG. 7, two adjacent panels 5 in a row of panels will have the vertical grooves 107 form a vertically extending cavity. This cavity receives a sealing strip 109 which loosely occupies the cavity and seals the vertically extending gap 120 between the horizontally adjacent panels 5. In the embodiment of FIG. 7 the panels 5 abut studs 2 as in FIGS. 1 and 2 which have an interior surface formed by plasterboard 4.

The panels 5 of FIG. 7 also have horizontally extending grooves 107 on their upper and lower edges which form similar horizontally extending cavities between vertically adjacent panels 5. These horizontally extending cavities can be sealed with a length of sealing strip 109 which is approximately the length of the panels 5. Thus the short lengths of horizontally extending sealing strip extend between the long lengths of vertically extending sealing strip. Naturally, this arrangement can be reversed, if desired, with the short lengths extending vertically and the long lengths extending horizontally. In a still further variation, long lengths can be used both vertically and horizontally with the sealing strips being crossed at each panel corner. The panels of FIG. 7 utilize the clip 108 of FIG. 6 with the hook thereof reversed to engage the groove 107.

The foregoing describes only some embodiments of the present invention and modifications, obvious to those skilled in the building arts, can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present invention.

The term “comprising” and its grammatical variations as used herein is used in the inclusive sense of “having” or “including” and not in the exhaustive sense of “consisting of”. 

1. A cladding and insulating veneer arrangement fixed to a load bearing subwall, said arrangement comprising a vertically and horizontally extending stack of substantially vertically aligned panels which are loose fixed without bonding jointing material between the panels, and retaining clips extending between said panels and the subwall.
 2. The arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein said load bearing subwall comprises a framework of vertically extending studs.
 3. The arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein said load bearing subwall comprises a masonry wall.
 4. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said panels have tongue and groove inter-engagement means.
 5. The arrangement as claimed in claim 4 wherein said retaining clips each have a hook which mates with the tongue of said tongue and groove inter-engagement means.
 6. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said panels have an inter-engagement means comprising a peripheral groove and a sealing strip dimensioned to be retained in a cavity formed by opposed grooves of abutting panels.
 7. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said panel stack does not include control joints and any thermal expansion or contraction of said panels is accommodated by the loose fixing thereof.
 8. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said panels comprise lightweight concrete.
 9. The arrangement as claimed in claim 8 wherein said lightweight concrete comprises cement, sand, lightweight aggregate, superplasticiser and water.
 10. The arrangement as claimed in claim 9 wherein said lightweight aggregate comprises polystyrene beads.
 11. The arrangement as claimed in claim 10 wherein said polystyrene beads are uncoated.
 12. The arrangement as claimed in claim 9 wherein the ratio of water/cement is 0.30-0.35 or 0.30-0.40 by weight.
 13. The arrangement as claimed in claim 9 wherein the proportion of said superplasticiser comprises 0.5-1.5% of cement by weight.
 14. The arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein the density of said panels is in the range of 500-1500 kg/m³.
 15. A method of erecting a cladding and insulating veneer arrangement for a load bearing subwall, said method comprising the steps of: (i) positioning a plurality of substantially vertically aligned panels in edge abutment to form a row, (ii) loose fixing said panels without bonding jointing material between the panels, (iii) utilizing retaining clips extending between said panels and said subwall to retain said panels in said row, and (iv) repeating step (i) for a vertically adjacent row.
 16. The method as claimed in claim 15 including the step of: (v) forming said subwall from a frame of vertically extending studs.
 17. The method as claimed in claim 16 including the step of: (vi) securing plasterboard to that side of said studs to which said panels are not secured.
 18. The method as claimed in claim 15 including the step of: (vii) forming said subwall from masonry.
 19. A lightweight panel for use in the arrangement of claim 1, said panel being formed substantially from concrete which comprises cement, sand, lightweight aggregate, superplasticiser and water; having a density in the range of 500-1500 kg/m³; and having an inter-engagement means to enable said panel to be loose fixed with a plurality of like panels in a vertically and horizontally extending stack of said panels, and said inter-engagernent means being shaped to permit engagement with a retaining clip which permits said stack of panels to be retained adjacent a subwall from which said retaining clip extends.
 20. The panel as claimed in claim 19 wherein: said lightweight aggregate comprises polystyrene beads, the ratio of water/cement is 0.30-0.35 or 0.30-0.40 by weight, and the proportion of said superplasticiser comprises 0.5-1.5% of cement by weight. 